OBJECTIVE: /st> To investigate the effect of tumour necrosis factor (TNF) antagonist treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on sick leave (SL) and disability pension (DP) in a population-based setting in southern Sweden. METHODS: /st> All patients with RA in the South Swedish Arthritis Treatment Group register living in the county of Skåne (population 1.2 million), who started their

Electricity must be produced at the same time as it is used. This necessitates flexibility in the electricity production and electricity networks. Until recently, the increase in electricity demand and peak power demand has been met by expansion of the electricity production. Today, due to the deregulation of the electricity market, the production capacity is decreasing. Therefore, there is a nati

BACKGROUND: Kodecytes bearing synthetic blood group A and B antigens are increasingly being used in transfusion laboratories as serologic mimics of red blood cell (RBC) A(weak) and B(weak) subtypes. The aim of this study was to compare the flow cytometry profile of kodecytes with native ABO subgroups. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A series of A/B kodecytes, each with decreasing A or B antigen express

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays an important role in neuronal survival through activation of TrkB receptors. The trkB gene encodes a full-length receptor tyrosine kinase (TrkB.FL) and its truncated (T1/T2) isoforms. We investigated the changes in TrkB protein levels and signaling activity under excitotoxic conditions, which are characteristic of brain ischemia, traumatic brain injur

The field of identification and process-parameter estimation has developed rapidly during the past decade. In this survey paper the state-of-the-art/science is presented in a systematic way. Attention is paid to general properties and to classification of identification problems. Model structures are discussed; their choice hinges on the purpose of the identification and on the available a priori

BACKGROUND: Treating pulmonary valve stenosis with balloon valvuloplasty (BV) is a good model to study the effect of right ventricular (RV) pressures on coronary flow. METHODS: Transthoracic Doppler echocardiography was used to register coronary flow in 10 age-matched healthy controls and 7 neonates before and 1 day after BV. RESULTS: Left ventricular fractional shortening and cardiac output incre

Despite significant reductions in acute-rejection rates with the introduction of calcineurin inhibitor (CNI)-based immunosuppressive therapy, improvements in long-term graft survival in renal transplantation have been mixed. Improving long-term graft survival continues to present a major challenge in the management of kidney-transplant patients. CNIs are a key component of immunosuppressive therap

Introduction. Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) are used in cancer therapy to reverse anaemia. It has been suggested that ESAs might improve treatment outcome by reducing tumour hypoxia, but ESAs might also increase tumour growth. In this work, the effect of recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEpo) beta was investigated on a human head and neck squamous carcinoma cell (HNSCC) line in vitro

A mobile DIAL (differential absorption lidar) remote sensing system has been employed in the monitoring of industrial pollutant emissions. Measurements of sulfur dioxide and mercury vapor were performed at nine different Swedish industrial plants within the framework of a control program commissioned by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency. Total atmospheric fluxes of these species could be

The aim of the newborn pain cry analysis is to test the hypothesis that cry can be used as a tool to detect signs of nocioceptive pain. Previous studies applying signal processing techniques to analyze the sound of these cries have been done. The subject of this paper is to adapt and improve the original method with the help of new signal processing methods. The pitch frequency is extracted from t